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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23973730">Mirrors</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTwentySecondPilot/pseuds/TheTwentySecondPilot'>TheTwentySecondPilot</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Twenty One Pilots</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anxiety, Apologies, Boyfrens, Cute, Emotional, Emotions, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mentions Of Blurryface, Mirrors, Tired Tyler Joseph</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 18:09:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,465</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23973730</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTwentySecondPilot/pseuds/TheTwentySecondPilot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Tyler is exhausted allowing Blurryface and his emotions get the best of him as Josh tries to be there for him every step of the way. (not so sure what else to put for a summary, this is a trainwreck of a fic lemmie tell ya)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Josh Dun/Tyler Joseph</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Mirrors</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>A slight warning if anyone gets triggered easily by blood and/or hospitals... then you should ya yeet yourself over to literally any one of my other fics, which I can promise are soft and fluffy (except for maybe this one was a bit scary even for me to write 😳)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">“Should I get it?” Josh asks, spinning in a circle as he watches Tyler in the reflection of the mirror.</p><p class="p1">“Yeah babe that’s cute, get it I guess.” Tyler shrugs and his gaze lingers in the reflection until it meets Josh’s eyes in the mirror.</p><p class="p1">“You’re tired, aren’t you?” He says, turning to face Tyler, who nods sheepishly. “Tell you what, I’ll post it to my snap story, then we can go, okay?”</p><p class="p1">“Yeah, okay.” Tyler mumbles.</p><p class="p1">“Look alive, sunshine.” Josh says as he pulls his hat up slightly off his head.</p><p class="p1">“I’ll certainly try to.” Tyler sighs, stuffing his hands into his pockets as Josh tries out a few different poses. Tyler hopes he didn’t blink during the array of photos Josh had just taken, but he didn’t mind, as long as Josh looked fabulous.</p><p class="p1">“Hmm there’s a guy over my shoulder.” Josh mutters, swiping through the pictures he’d just taken.</p><p class="p1">“That’s me.” Tyler says, putting his chin on Josh’s shoulder as Josh picks a selfie, posting it.</p><p class="p1">“No, on the other-” he stops, placing his hand on Tyler’s cheek, “...side.” Josh exhales through his nose smiling to himself. “Okay, let’s go.” He says, quickly kissing Tyler’s nose before taking off the light pink jacket, placing it back on the hanger, and setting it on the store rack. Josh takes Tyler’s hand as they walk out of the store and into the parking lot. As soon as they get into Josh’s car, Tyler slumps over as if he was going to fall asleep then and there. The drive home was quiet, but Josh figured if Tyler wanted to take a nap, he would, so playing music wasn’t an option. By the time they pulled up to Josh’s house, Tyler was out, like out for the night out. Josh wasn’t sure whether or not Tyler was actually sleeping or if he just wanted to be carried inside and tucked into bed. Either way, Tyler was getting carried inside and tucked in because Josh is a good boyfriend. He opens the passenger side door and unbuckles Tyler’s seatbelt, placing an arm behind his knees and the other around his back, holding onto his waist. Careful not to hit Tyler’s head on the side of the car door frame, Josh slowly pulls Tyler out of his seat and lifts him up, carrying him bridal style. Tyler stirs slightly, wrapping his arms around Josh’s neck, nuzzling up against him.</p><p class="p1">“We’re home.” Josh whispers, closing the passenger side door with his foot before walking up to the front door.</p><p class="p1">“Ty you gotta hold onto me okay, I need an arm for a sec.” Josh says quietly as he pulls his keys out of his pocket, with Tyler holding himself up on Josh’s neck. Josh locks his car and then unlocks the front door and goes inside. The lights weren’t on because they hadn’t expected to be out so late, but Josh knew where he was going. He carries Tyler through the foyer, up the stairs, turns to the left, and goes down the hall to the second door on the right. The guest bedroom already had some of Tyler’s stuff there, since he was spending the night more often. Josh slowly lowers Tyler onto the bed, laughing quietly as he tries to stand up straight, but Tyler’s arms were still around his neck.</p><p class="p1">“Come on!” Josh tries to stifle his laughs “Don’t make me come over there.” He leans forward on the bed, hovering over Tyler, who smiles.</p><p class="p1">“I see that smile, you. Let go of my neck, or I’ll come after yours.” Josh teases as Tyler’s eyelids flutter open. “Alright, you asked for it.” Tyler almost instantly lets go of Josh, who had started to kiss every inch of Tyler’s neck that he could reach.</p><p class="p1">“No no no noooo!” Tyler giggles nervously as he wriggles around, playfully trying to push Josh away. The pushing stops as soon as Josh finds a sweet spot near Tyler’s collar bone. This elicits a soft moan from Tyler and Josh immediately stops, finally being able to stand up straight. [a/n: HA straight]</p><p class="p1">“There she is!” He exclaims triumphantly. Tyler gasps, sitting up abruptly and breathing heavily as he looks up at Josh, wide-eyed.</p><p class="p1">“If that leaves a mark, we’re done!” Tyler says, quickly getting up off the bed, pushing past Josh, and practically running down the hallway and down the stairs. Josh didn’t have any time to say anything, let alone react. He sits down on the bed,frozen in shock, Tyler’s words circling around his brain like water in a drain. <em>We’re done... we’re done... we’re done... we’re... done. </em>It was as if the words were actually spinning around Josh’s head.</p><p class="p1">“No no no no...” He starts muttering to himself, realizing what had just happened. “Tyler!” Josh shouts, rushing downstairs to see Tyler standing in the kitchen with what looked like a spoon on his neck. “Ty... Tyler, I’m so...” Josh says slightly out of breath, “have... have you been crying?”</p><p class="p1">“What does it look like?” Tyler snaps, his voice cracking as a tear rolls down his bright red cheeks.</p><p class="p1">“It looks-” Josh’s breath hitches as Tyler shoots daggers at him, “it looks like I’ve got some apologizing to do.” He takes a step forward towards Tyler, who takes a step back away from him. Josh looks hurt, but knows that what he feels is a mere fraction of what Tyler must be going through.</p><p class="p1">“Tyler, I’m sorry, I thought-”</p><p class="p1">“Well you thought <em>wrong</em>!”</p><p class="p1">“But you actually moa-”</p><p class="p1">“I know what I did!” Tyler interrupts, letting out an exasperated sigh, as he turns away, “Yeah I did, so what?”</p><p class="p1">“That means you liked it?” As soon as he says it, he regretted even thinking it. He flinches when Tyler slams his hand down on the kitchen counter.</p><p class="p1">“Of course I liked it, Josh! Every teenage girl in the clique would <em>kill</em> to have you do that to them!” Tyler should’ve stopped talking, but his frustration gets to him. “Just try to think next time, before you get all <em>horny</em>.” Tyler throws the cold spoon that he had resting on his neck, and it lands in the kitchen sink with a loud clang. He walks away, going to the into the hallway to look in the mirror. Meanwhile, Josh was in shock, disgusted even, at what Tyler had said.</p><p class="p1">“Excuse me?” He asks, gritting his teeth.</p><p class="p1">“You heard m-” Tyler stops as he turns to see Josh, who- if looks could kill- would’ve killed him immediately.</p><p class="p1">“I understand that what I did made you uncomfortable, and I’m sorry, I won’t ever do it again. But before you ever accuse me of being h-“ Josh stops and huffs angrily, “that <em>thing</em>... just think, just try to <em>think</em>.”</p><p class="p1">“This can’t be our first freaking fight.” Tyler shakes his head in disbelief. (a/n: it just can’t be! if you know, you know)</p><p class="p1">“Well it’s gonna be our <em>last</em>.” Josh turns to leave the kitchen.</p><p class="p1">“Just try to think!” Tyler shouts, making Josh stop in his tracks in the foyer.</p><p class="p1">“I <em>think</em> we need a <em>break</em>.” Josh retorts, stomping up the stairs and slamming his bedroom door behind him. Tyler can feel himself getting choked up again, his breaths still shaky. He turns back to look at himself in the mirror.</p><p class="p1">
  <em>God I’m a mess. And over what? A freaking hickey...</em>
</p><p class="p1">Tyler tilts his head to one side, inspecting his neck.</p><p class="p1"><em>...that doesn’t even exist</em>.</p><p class="p1">He lets out a silent sob, his eyes welling up with tears. He closes his eyes, letting a few tears fall. When he opens them, his face looks blurred through the tears, so he wipes them away. Still blurry. Tyler quickly shakes his head from side to side, but when he looks back in the mirror, his face still looked blurry. Unfortunately for Tyler, his blurry face wasn’t going away any time soon. [a/n: oh lawd he comin']</p><p class="p1">“So... it seems we’ve got ourselves into a bit of trouble, hmm?” A gravely voice crackles out of Tyler’s throat.</p><p class="p1">“It’s fine, I’m fine, you don’t need to be here.” Tyler states, the words slipping out of his mouth feel fake, and Blurryface can see straight through his lies.</p><p class="p1">“You’re so very far from fine.” Tyler jerks his head quickly. [a/n: this one's for you, Abby]</p><p class="p1">“I’m perfect, actually.” He keeps on lying, might as well.</p><p class="p1">“You wouldn’t know what perfect was if it slapped you in the face!” Without hesitation, Tyler slaps himself, the noise echoes throughout the foyer.</p><p class="p1">“Stop it!” He fights back, his face contorting in the mirror as he watches his cheek turn pink.</p><p class="p1">“He’ll leave you, you know. And soon you’ll be all alone.” Blurryface coos, tilting his head “<em>Again</em>.” He growls.</p><p class="p1">“No!” Tyler screams, punching the mirror, causing it to crack.</p><p class="p1">“You can’t get rid of me!” Tyler throws his head back as Blurryface cackles. “I’ll always be here!” He shouts as Tyler punches the mirror again and again until finally, the whole frame falls off of the wall. It crashes to the floor, masking Tyler’s outburst as he falls with it, curling up into a crumpled up heap on the ground. His hand wasn’t broken, but it was cut and bleeding, and the salt from his tears wasn’t helping his wounds. Tyler can barely hear the sound of rushed footsteps over his own cries as Josh comes down the stairs, turning to see Tyler and the mirror on the floor.</p><p class="p1">“Tyler!” Josh shouts, rushing over to him, getting down on his hands and knees as he pulls Tyler over to him and away from the mirror shards.</p><p class="p1">“It’s gonna be all right, you’re okay, I’m here, it’s okay, I’ve got you.” Josh sits crisscrossed on the floor, slowly rocking back and forth, gently holding Tyler’s upper body in his lap. Tyler starts blubbering nonsense and Josh tries to turn Tyler’s head to understand what he was saying, but there was no point. The noises were more sobs than words, and Josh thought the best thing to do now was to let Tyler tire himself out to the point where he was calm enough to talk somewhat coherently. With the help of time, calm hushing, and rocking back and forth, Tyler was able to fall silent, and for a minute Josh thought Tyler had fallen asleep. He moves to get up to start cleaning up the mess on the floor but Tyler whimpers, suddenly grasping onto his leg.</p><p class="p1">“Ty, I’ve got... I’ve got to clean up the mirror... I’ll be right here I promise.” Josh says, taking Tyler’s hands gently in his, but shouts as he sees Tyler’s bloody knuckles.</p><p class="p1">“Oh God! Tyler! You <em>punched</em> the mirror?! I thought it just fell! I- oh, my-“ Josh stammers, quickly standing up, leaning Tyler up against the hallway wall before running into the kitchen. Moments later, Josh returns with his T-shirt in his hands, sopping wet with water. He crouches down on the floor next to Tyler, gently grabbing Tyler’s hands to see if it was just one hand or both. It was just his right hand, which Josh promptly wrapped up in his shirt, placing Tyler’s loosely bandaged up hand into his lap. Tyler instinctively holds onto his own hand, looking down at it with a blank stare, as if he didn’t know he’d cut his hand, or even punched the mirror. Josh starts brushing the mirror shards into a dustpan, trying to get as much as he can before taking a piece of the frame and laying it over top of where there might be glass still left on the floor.</p><p class="p1">“All right,” Josh says, grabbing Tyler under the armpits, pulling him up to his feet, “lets go, come on.” He starts slowly walking Tyler over to the front door.</p><p class="p1">“Where we going?” Tyler asks groggily.</p><p class="p1">“We’re gonna go get your hand looked at.” Josh says, grabbing a jacket from a hook by the front door, along with his keys.</p><p class="p1">“Youdon haveto, I’ll cleann yourshirt.”</p><p class="p1">“No, you keep my shirt on your hand, we have to wait until a doctor takes it your hand okay? You keep it there.”</p><p class="p1">“Gottakeepitonmyhand?” Tyler slurs, leaning up against Josh as he locks the front door, unlocking his car.</p><p class="p1">“Yep, you gotta keep it on your hand.” Josh leads Tyler over to his car, helping him get in and closes the door after buckling him in.</p><p class="p1">“Idonthinktheylookatme.”</p><p class="p1">“Why not?” Josh asks, getting in on his side of the car, starting the engine. Tyler mumbles something unintelligible.</p><p class="p1">“What?”</p><p class="p1">“Isaidthatscausetheyllsayididit.”</p><p class="p1">“That you did what?”</p><p class="p1">“Brokethemirror.”</p><p class="p1">“Who broke the mirror?”</p><p class="p1">“He did!” Tyler says loudly.</p><p class="p1">“Why did he do that?” Josh asks, realizing who Tyler was talking about.</p><p class="p1">“Causehecareswhatithink.” Tyler’s answers confirm Josh’s fear: it was Blurryface who broke the mirror, who ripped Tyler to shreds after he’d left him, who put him down this spiral of exhausted dissociation.</p><p class="p1">“He does, doesn’t he?” Josh asks casually as he speeds towards the hospital. At this point, Tyler was mumbling to himself, singing what Josh thought could have been Goner, but he wasn’t sure. After finding a parking space, dragging Tyler out of the car, and practically carrying him over to the ER entrance, they finally get inside to see someone.</p><p class="p1">“Uh, hi, yeah, um, my boyfriend cut his hand on a broken mirror-” Josh starts, but is cut off.</p><p class="p1">“Oh! Okay, um, I’ll get someone to grab a wheelchair for him, if you could take this and fill it out while we open up a room that would be great, thank you.” The receptionist hands Josh a clipboard with a pen attached to it. As he and Tyler turn to go find somewhere to sit, a man in scrubs rolls over a wheelchair and helps Josh lower Tyler into the seat.</p><p class="p1">“There you are.” Josh sighs, kissing Tyler on the forehead, pushing his hair back.</p><p class="p1">“You’re a mess bb.” He rolls Tyler over next to an empty seat and puts the wheelchair into park before sitting down.</p><p class="p1">Just as Josh had finished filling out the final page, a nurse comes out into the waiting room.</p><p class="p1">“Tyler Joseph?” She calls out, and Josh almost immediately stands up, Tyler jerks his head up.</p><p class="p1">“Thasssmeee!”</p><p class="p1">“Yes, yes it is.” Josh says to himself more than Tyler as he rolls him back. They find out that not only had Blurryface cut up Tyler’s hand with a bunch of small scratches, he also managed to leave an inch-long gash on his middle finger. That was definitely going to need stitches. The ER doctor told Josh that even though Tyler was pretty out of it, they still had to drug him up for surgery. [a/n: ...in Operating Room... aka the OR, Abby! D:&lt; lol]</p><p class="p1">~~~</p><p class="p1">An hour passes and Josh has been worrying in the waiting room. He paces back and forth, his anxiety growing by the second. A woman in white walks over to Josh, handing him a small styrofoam cup.</p><p class="p1">“Sir, would you like some water?” She asks softly, and Josh looks over at her, wide-eyed.</p><p class="p1">“Huh?”</p><p class="p1">“I think maybe it would be best if you sat down for a bit.” She tries to hand Josh the cup again.</p><p class="p1">“I can’t, I can’t, I-” Josh stammers, flustered and shakes his head. “My boyfriend’s in the OR and I can’t calm down!”</p><p class="p1">“Would you like to talk about it?” Luckily, the ER had sent over their psychiatric counselor to come talk with Josh, since his pacing had started worrying other patients. Josh looks at her like she was speaking another language.</p><p class="p1">“What?” He asks, a glassy look in his eyes.</p><p class="p1">“Why don’t you sit down and we can talk about it?” She calmly suggests, putting slight pressure on Josh’s shoulder, guiding him to sit down as she does. He follows her lead, finally taking the styrofoam cup from her.</p><p class="p1">“I... we...” Josh sighs and pours the whole cup of water down his throat in one gulp.</p><p class="p1">“Take your time.” The woman explains quietly, and Josh feels himself nod.</p><p class="p1">“We got... we got into a fight. We don’t fight, like, ever.” A nod from the counselor urges Josh to continue. “I got mad at something he said and left the room. I shouldn’t have left him alone. I should never leave him alone, especially when he’s hurting.” Josh shakes his head, his fingernails digging into the styrofoam. “He’s... he’s not safe when he’s alone and upset. His mind, it turns evil, not good. He started to have an argument in his head, got angry and broke the mirror that hangs in the hallway at my place.” Another nod allows Josh to finish. “I came downstairs and it was too late, he was curled up on the floor next to the broken mirror, his hand all messed up, and now he’s getting stitches in the OR.” His voice cracks on <em>OR</em>, he hadn’t realized he had started crying when he was explaining what happened between him and Tyler.</p><p class="p1">“What are you scared of?”</p><p class="p1">“I...” Josh lets a shaky breath pass between his lips, “I just don’t wanna lose him.”</p><p class="p1">“He’ll make it out of surgery all right, you don’t have to worry about that.” The woman reassuringly puts her hand on Josh’s shoulder.</p><p class="p1">“No I mean after that, when he’s all better, if he doesn’t want me around anymore... like he’s gonna leave me.”</p><p class="p1">“Oh, I don’t think he’ll leave you over a small fight. How long have you two known each other?” Josh can feel his breaths getting heavy as he concentrates, unsure of what day or even what year it was.</p><p class="p1">“Uhh, I’ve... umm.” He pauses, taking a few deep breaths, “I think, we, uh, met four years ago, maybe? But, uh, we’ve only been dating like a year or two I think?” The counselor nods, removing her hand from Josh’s shoulder.</p><p class="p1">“I think he’ll stick around.” She smiles.</p><p class="p1">“And sing me pretty sounds and we’ll make money selling my hair-” Josh mumbles, finishing the line [a/n: ah ye, some good ol' WDBWOTV]</p><p class="p1">“Are- do you need me to get you some more wa-” The woman asks, standing up rather quickly.</p><p class="p1">“No! No, sorry I uh, song lyrics, I’m not going crazy I promise!” Josh grabs for her lab coat but misses, as she had already taken a few steps to go get him new cup of water.</p><p class="p1">“Are you sure?” She asks, eyeing Josh’s expression. After realizing that he was being genuine, she sits back down.</p><p class="p1">“Does he usually sing to you?”</p><p class="p1">“Yes, all the time.” Josh sighs, smiling to himself.</p><p class="p1">“Do you like to sing back to him?”</p><p class="p1">“Oh, well, heh.” He rubs the back of his neck, blushing slightly, “I’m not too good of a singer and I don’t know any of the words to our songs.”</p><p class="p1">“That’s okay, I’m sure you two are able to connect it other ways than music.”</p><p class="p1">“Well actually-” Josh starts, but is cut off by an important looking doctor in scrubs walking over towards the Josh and the Psychiatric Counselor.</p><p class="p1">“Mr. Joseph?” The woman asks as Josh stands up.</p><p class="p1">“That’s my boyfriend, yes.” He states, anxiously waiting for an update of Tyler’s condition.</p><p class="p1">“Come with me, please.” She says as Josh turns to look at the counselor, who nods, standing up. Josh follows the doctor back past the waiting room doors and into a long hallway lined with rooms full of patients. They reach room number 22 and she opens the curtain slowly. </p><p class="p1">“Tyler.” Josh whispers, placing his hand over his mouth.</p><p class="p1">“He’s still waking up, but we thought we would bring you back after we saw signs of him starting to wake up.” The doctor says, turning to close the curtain, “I’ll let you two have some time alone together.”</p><p class="p1">“Thank you.” Josh says quietly before walking over to Tyler, pulling a chair up to the side of his bed.</p><p class="p1">“Oh Tyler, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for it to go like this. I just wanted to have a nice night out with you.” Josh shakes his head to try to keep himself from crying again. Tyler’s head turns slightly, and Josh gently grabs Tyler’s left hand, rubbing his ring finger lightly with his thumb.</p><p class="p1">“What are we gonna do? What about our happily ever after? Why am I so stupid? You make me crazy, you know that? I wanna spend the rest of my life with you, but I can’t if I kill you before I can do that.” Josh sighs, realizing he’s still in shock. “I can’t lose you, I just can’t.”</p><p class="p1">“I know.” a weak response from Tyler makes Josh’s head jerk up.</p><p class="p1">“You’re awake!” Josh whispers excitedly, giving Tyler’s hand a light squeeze before standing up and kissing him on the forehead.</p><p class="p1">“Look alive sunshine.” Tyler manages to say, coughing a few times. Josh immediately turns to get the cup he’d left... outside... in the waiting room. Thankfully, another nurse had heard the cough and walks in with a small white styrofoam cup. He hands it to Josh and asks if everything is alright. Tyler nods and gives a thumbs up with his left hand, his right still numb. The nurse nods and slides through the curtains as he leaves. Tyler sits up, motioning for Josh to give him the water, and Josh starts to pour a bit of water into Tyler’s mouth. He moves his chin up slightly to tell Josh he was done and leans back, swallowing the water with a gulp. Tyler sighs as he leans back against the headboard of the bed, stifling a yawn. Josh yawned seconds later, and looks down at Tyler, brushing his hair out of his eyes.</p><p class="p1">“You wear me out, babe.” Josh says, stroking his thumb along Tyler’s cheek.</p><p class="p1">“You think you’re not gonna have to fight to keep all this around?” Tyler smiles, gesturing to his sprawled out body on the hospital bed.</p><p class="p1">“I mean I could just get you a hospital gown and some sticky socks if that’s what you’re into.” Josh grins ear to ear as Tyler giggles.</p><p class="p1">“I can match that pink sweater that you were gonna get earlier today, just make sure my socks and gown are pink.”</p><p class="p1">“Oh shoot, I completely forgot about that!” Josh pulls out his phone and opens up snapchat. Turns out, he’d forgotten to write a caption, so there weren’t any responses about the sweater, just the mirror selfie along with its many screenshots.</p><p class="p1">“Ah, forget it. I’ll go out another time and get it.” He locks his phone, shoving it back into his pocket.</p><p class="p1">“Are you sure I can’t come with you?” Tyler asks, raising his eyebrows. “I know I have zero fashion sense, but I would think that going out shopping with you would be part of our happily ever after.”</p><p class="p1">“You- you heard that?” Josh blushes, and Tyler nods.</p><p class="p1">“The whole spending the rest of our lives together? Yeah.” Tyler smiles, taking Josh’s hand and holding it up to his chest. Josh can feel Tyler’s heart beating and looks up to the monitor next to the bed.</p><p class="p1">The lines on the screen beat along with his heart, and Josh’s eyes linger on the screen. He quickly glances at Tyler, who had been watching him watch the screen.</p><p class="p1">“What?” Tyler asks, turning to look at the screen.</p><p class="p1">“Oh just watching your heartbeat on the screen...” Josh says, sliding his hand out of Tyler’s, moving it up to Tyler’s cheek. He looks back over at the screen once more, watching Tyler’s heartbeat get ever-so-slightly faster as he leans in. Tyler glances over, biting his lip as Josh gently tilts his head away from the screen, holding his face in place. A spike in Tyler’s heartbeat appears on the monitor as Josh kisses him passionately. Tyler gasps as they break, shaking his head at Josh as he tries to hide a smile.</p><p class="p1">“You won’t be able to spend the rest of your life with me if you kill me, but I’ll be able to spend the rest of my life with you.” Tyler teases, and Josh laughs, glancing over at the monitor screen.</p><p class="p1">“You really did hear all of that, huh? I oughta kiss you again just so you won’t be able to quote me because you’ll be busy trying to catch your breath.” His gaze returns to Tyler, who smirks.</p><p class="p1">“You’re lucky the drugs are holding me back.”</p><p class="p1">“They’ll wear off eventually. Besides, you need them now so you can heal properly.” Josh sobers up briefly.</p><p class="p1">“Yeah I know, I’m exhausted.” Tyler yawns, causing Josh to yawn with him.</p><p class="p1">“Quit stealing my oxygen.” He laughs. </p><p class="p1">“It’s actually <em>you've stolen my air, catcher</em>-” A coughing fit cuts off Tyler’s singing. Josh hands him the little white cup that one of the nurses had brought in earlier.</p><p class="p1">“I don’t know if you want it back.” Josh sings quietly, almost causing Tyler to spit out the water that he hadn’t swallowed. Josh giggles, taking the cup from Tyler, who lightly shoves him.</p><p class="p1">“You’re not doing too good with this whole keeping me alive thing.”</p><p class="p1">“I’m trying...” His face contorts as he slowly sits back down.</p><p class="p1">“Whatcha thinking about?” Tyler notices Josh’s eyes darting around the room.</p><p class="p1">“Life.” Josh absentmindedly responds.</p><p class="p1">“What about it?”</p><p class="p1">“Just... I’m glad you’re alive.” Josh’s eyes meet Tyler’s.</p><p class="p1">“I’m glad you’re alive, too.” Tyler smiles, his eyelids flutter closed.</p><p class="p1">“What time is it?” He mumbles. Josh checks his phone.</p><p class="p1">“11:06” Tyler groans.</p><p class="p1">“I shouldn’t be this tired this early at night.”</p><p class="p1">“Maybe you’ll be able to get some sleep while we’re here.” Josh says as Tyler’s eyes open quickly. “Just try to get some sleep, please?”</p><p class="p1">“I’ll try...” Tyler’s eyelids droop back down over his eyes again, and next thing he knew, he was being gently woken up.</p><p class="p1">“Ty... Ty it’s time to go home.” A muffled voice makes its way into Tyler’s head and he opens his eyes slowly, adjusting to the bright lights in the ER.</p><p class="p1">“Five more minutes.” He moans, trying to roll over. Josh laughs, placing a hand on Tyler’s shoulder so that he didn’t roll over onto his hand, which had been cleaned and re-wrapped with new bandages. The doctors had explained Tyler’s aftercare to Josh, and Tyler was discharged... as soon as he got out of the hospital bed.</p><p class="p1">“Babe, we’re still in the ER, you’ve been discharged, we can go home now.” Josh tries to lift Tyler up, but he starts to squirm around in protest.</p><p class="p1">“Okay, then I’m putting you in the wheelchair if you’re not gonna walk.” Tyler mumbles something and allows Josh to pick him up and set him down in the wheelchair. Tyler is then rolled out to Josh’s car, picked up and placed inside it, and then taken out to be carried inside Josh’s house. When they reach the top of the stairs, Tyler stirs, nuzzling himself into Josh’s chest.</p><p class="p1">“Idonwanngo.” He mumbles.</p><p class="p1">“You don’t want to go to bed?” Josh asks, walking into the guest bedroom. Tyler shakes his head no. “Well what are you going to do instead?”</p><p class="p1">“Sleepwihyou.” Josh blinks a few times, trying to make sure he heard Tyler right.</p><p class="p1">“Donleavemealone.” Tyler says.</p><p class="p1">“I guess you can come sleep with me tonight.” Josh turns back into the hallway and walks over to his room. Tyler nods.</p><p class="p1">“Thanyou.”</p><p class="p1">“You’re welcome.”</p><p class="p1">“Iluhyou.”</p><p class="p1">“I love you too.” Josh lays Tyler down in his bed, tucking him in. He then realizes how quickly Tyler’s arms dropped from around his neck as he’d lowered him onto the bed. He walks over to the doorway to turn off the hallway light when he catches a glimpse of Tyler in his bedroom mirror. His gaze lingers slightly, watching as Tyler stirs, already asleep. The lights flicker off, and Josh gets into bed, falling asleep as his head hits the pillow.</p><p class="p1">~~~</p><p class="p1">The next morning, Josh is woken up by the sun shining through the shades in his bedroom. He tries to roll over to hide from the sun, but there’s something laying on his chest, preventing him from rolling over. Tyler had managed to sprawl himself out over the entirety of Josh’s bed. Josh sighs, resting an arm over his eyes and hopes that Tyler wakes up soon. Some time passes and when Josh wakes up again, Tyler is nowhere to be found, at least, not in the bedroom. The sound of running water lures Josh down the hall into the bathroom, where Tyler was tending to his finger, cautiously picking at the colored gauze on his hand. </p><p class="p1">“Good morning!” Tyler says, turning off the sink faucet, looking as Josh’s reflection in the mirror appears in the doorway to his left.</p><p class="p1">“Morning.” Josh yawns as he rubs his eyes, still waking up.</p><p class="p1">“Did you get enough sleep?”</p><p class="p1">“Yeah I think so.” Josh leans on the doorway. “It seems like you did.” He adds with a grin as he messes us Tyler’s hair.</p><p class="p1">“I, heh, yeah.” Tyler blushes, looking back down at his hand.</p><p class="p1">“Here, lemme help you out with that.” Josh steps in past the doorway, his fingertips trace Tyler’s forearm as he walks in. “They told me you’re only supposed to take off the first layer of gauze, then after a week you can take all of it off.” Josh says, slowly unwrapping the colored self-sticking gauze off of Tyler’s hand, unraveling it up to his knuckles. Tyler flinches slightly, wincing at the sight of his bruised and battered hand.</p><p class="p1">“Sorry, did that hurt?” Josh asks and Tyler leans into his shoulder.</p><p class="p1">“A little bit, but I’m fine.” He mutters, glancing at the concentration twisting in the expression on Josh’s face.</p><p class="p1">“I’m just glad you didn’t break anything.”</p><p class="p1">“So am I, I don’t even want to think about not being able to play… well, anything anymore.” Tyler realizes how horribly wrong that situation could’ve played out, Blurryface could’ve broken his hand, his dominant hand at that. No more ukulele or guitar, playing piano would only have to be left handed, and he switched up mic hands every now and then so that would’ve been the least of his worries.</p><p class="p1">“Hey, Ty.” Josh’s voice breaks Tyler out of his thoughts.</p><p class="p1">“Huh?” He asks, quickly shaking his head as he steps back from Josh to look at him.</p><p class="p1">“You’re all set.” He gestures down to Tyler’s newly bandaged hand.</p><p class="p1">“Oh, thanks.” Tyler says absentmindedly, he shakes his head again. “Sorry, I got lost in thought.” He blushes, rubbing the back of his neck.</p><p class="p1">“It’s fine, I figured you were thinking, so I decided to leave you to it.” Josh shrugs, walking behind Tyler to the hallway.</p><p class="p1">“Josh, wait.” Tyler says, and Josh steps into the doorway of the bathroom.</p><p class="p1">“Yeah, what’s up?” He asks, tilting his head slightly.</p><p class="p1">“I…” Tyler hesitates, taking a step towards Josh. “Thank you. For everything… last night, the past few years, for being there for me no matter what.”</p><p class="p1">“Of course-” Josh starts, but is cut off by Tyler bringing a hand up to his cheek, holding it gently. Tyler quickly pulls him closer, guiding Josh’s lips to his own. The kiss was quick, but full of energy and warmth. Tyler’s eyes lock on Josh’s as soon as they break.</p><p class="p1">“I mean it.” He breathes.</p><p class="p1">“I know you do.” Josh reassures him.</p><p class="p1">“Okay, good. Because I know I’m not the best at showing my emotions or telling you how I feel… I don’t want it to scare you off.” Tyler admits sheepishly.</p><p class="p1">“It’s gonna take a lot more than that to shake me. You’ll be stuck with me for a long time.” Josh smiles, “That’s part of the happily ever after deal.” He says as he starts walking down the hallway. Josh doesn’t even need to turn around to know that Tyler is smiling. “Breakfast?” He calls from the stairwell.</p><p class="p1">“Bold of you to assume I can cook with my left hand!” Tyler shouts back. He laughs to himself, turning back into the bathroom to turn off the lights.</p><p class="p1">He catches a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror, and he does a double-take. Tyler stands in front of the mirror for a few seconds, staring into his own eyes, then he scans the rest of his face, and finally his eyes make their way down to his hand, which he was holding up to his chest. He was relieved to find that he was alone, and smiles, his own reflection smiling back at him. It was two versus one, that is, if Blurryface tried to come back. Tyler knew that he had Josh, and that Josh had him, and that was enough for Tyler to know that Josh would always be here for him, no matter what. Josh decided to make sure Tyler knew that.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hhhhhhh sorry for literally disappearing for a whole month, this little quarantine thing has kinda knocked everything out of orbit. I've been writing, I promise, I just haven't had the time/motivation to actually post anything. (cause I think my writing is bad and I don't wanna disappoint anyone :/ sooo yeah)<br/>🥺<br/>👉👈</p></blockquote></div></div>
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